Woman Charged After Using Cruel Trick to Abandon Dog Along Busy Highway

A Pennsylvania woman is facing charges after using a cruel act of betrayal to abandon her dog along a busy highway.

It is thanks to a good Samaritan and the power of social media that Mandy Nicole Shaffer, 29, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania is facing animal cruelty charges after abandoning her dog along Thomas School Road on February 21.

Danielle Steeley and her daughter were driving when they spotted a dog, alone, in the pouring rain, darting in and out of traffic. Without hesitation, they stopped to help.

The dog-loving duo spent the next two hours knocking on doors, hoping to find the dog’s owner with no luck. So, they reached out to local rescue organization, Cross Your Paws, for help.

Cross Your Paws posted the dog’s photo on Facebook, and within 10-hours, they’d learned the dog’s name was Tank and that he’d been abandoned by his owner using a cruel trick.

One witness recounted seeing a van stopped on the road where Tank was found, the driver opened the back door, threw a tennis ball, and sped away when the dog jumped out to chase after it.

The social media post also provided rescuers and police with the dog’s owner, Mandy Nicole Shaffer, her vehicle make and model, license plate number, and home address where police located and charged her with animal cruelty.

Good Samaritan, Danielle Steeley and her family – who plan to testify against Shaffer in court – are now hoping to make Tank a permanent member of the family, telling WTAE-TV, “if a stray comes your way, God sent him or her to you to help them because there’s nobody else.”

Tank remains with the family that rescued him while the case is under investigation.

“It could be upwards of three to six months,” said Steeley. “So, they said we have to keep custody of Tank until then. And I said, ‘Well, if we’re keeping custody of Tank until then, we’re keeping custody forever.’”

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